Leo Robidoux

October 17, 1919 - June 4, 2018 

With the completion of 98 years of life, Leo Robidoux grew to be a man of many talents and interests. Here are some of the characteristics that defined him.

 

As a man of considerable intelligence , he was always an independent and enthusiastic problem solver for himself and others, and he frequently showed his skills as an Engineer. As one of his classmates wrote in his 1938 Notre Dame year book "good luck to the guy who could do all the physics problems that I couldn't". He was a widely read man who seemed to know a little about everything -- sometimes eliciting humorous comments of disbelief when he filled in his knowledge gaps with conjectures and guesses. He sold a substantial business in Denver in 1962 and moved to Santa Barbara where , with the patient consent of his wife Jeanne (who died in 1996), he ran a smaller independent electric parts business out of his house and garage for thirty years, helping institutions and individuals solve problems (and selling a few parts along the way). He was a highly social man with multiple local club memberships in Rotary, the Cosmopolitan and French clubs, and the Stow Park wine tasting group. He was also a man who throughout his life loved mountains and long vistas, who hiked multiple tall peaks when growing up in Colorado and never lost his love of rocky summits and high elevations. He really relished seeing all new things and somehow managed, with his second wife Andree Harmer, to undertake two major overseas trips a year from age 80 to 92 -- remembering the names, locations and details of every itinerary.

He was a man of limitless intellectual curiosity, and when he moved at age 93 to Valle Verde Senior Community, no lecture went unattended --with notes carefully saved. He was a confident (and alarmingly fast) driver of his scooter around the campus, making quick backups and decisive three point turns up switch back ramps. He was a man who carefully followed, with the help of CNN, the daily Trump political tumult and compared it to reading a thousand page novel .... with a hope (unfortunately unfulfilled) to live long enough to see the final chapters. During this time he focused his civic concerns on what he believed to be the hazardous explosive potential of gas pipelines and storage facilities. He wrote letters and called those in charge -- with particular alarm directed to the local high pressure underground "La Goleta"gas vaults near the campus. These concerns are now left to others.

 

But above all, he was a kind and considerate man with all those who came in contact with him -- human and animal alike. While early on in life he affectionately liked to tease the family cats. Later, when he remarried, he focused his energy on walking and keeping up with the often manic and humorous antics of his second wife's Bichon Frise dog Charlie.  But in the last few years, as his congestive heart failure progressed, and his physical capabilities diminished, he graciously accepted the help and support from his care givers and family (while also frequently saying "I can handle it myself - thanks" .... until he finally couldn't). He was a man who was lucky to be close to his three living children: Don and Larry Robidoux, Claire Gatlin, and his three adult grandchildren Jenny and Carrie Gatlin and David Robidoux. He was, finally and above all else, a man who loved us all, and we in turn will miss him profoundly. As he said to two of his children just a few weeks ago "See you in Eternity" it was clear that he was also extending an open invitation to all those who knew and cared for this remarkable man.